The Fall of Alexandria
by Nowi
Summary: A tale of a young couple, left alone on the outskirts of New Alexandria. Read for moar.


The Fall of Reach

Part (1): Fear

The stars glittered like tiny jewels in the dark, velvety night sky as strands of clouds wandered throughout the horizon of forever. Down below, watching the nearby devastation of New Alexandria two battle-worn and love struck marines held each others hands while pressurizing their armour integrity to high pressure. Wrapping her hand into his own, she tightened her grip and wished that she could feel the texture of his skin upon her own. To feel his body once more, inside and out. To basically be physically near him instead of being confined to standard body armour that was assigned to the common marine. Opening a private channel to him she whispered, "We should go,". Glancing at her through the impenetrable black visor a sound was emitted of gas being leaked as he took his helmet off and depressurized his armour. Throwing the helmet to the ground, he took her helmet off and pinned her against a blood-stained tree with scorches of plasma all across it. Meeting her eyes, he smiled, and cradled her head between his arms. Hearing her sob, he hugged her tightly and closed his eyes while kissing her head, "It'll be okay," he whispered in her ear as if she was a child.

"No it won't be!" she cried out in between her tears, breaking away from his grasp, "I wanted to have a family with you, not die on some god forsaken planet!". Lifting her magnum, she pointed it to her head as tears began trickling down her face. Watching her do that, he stepped forward quickly and pulled her arm away from her head as a shot was fired right into the air. Taking the magnum away from her, he threw it to the ground amidst scattered leaves and animal excretes. Holding her tightly, he hugged her and whispered, "Trust me,". Upon hearing him say this, the insanity that was brought on to her by the fatigue of war faded as her heart spoke through her lips saying, "I do," in a fairly quiet voice. Kissing her lovingly, he wrapped his arms around her armoured waist and promised in a solemn tone that he'd never ever let her go. Looking into his eyes, blue into brown. Blue, searching into his love, worried, and forever serious, caring and loving, while brown, loving, but oddly calm now though in a sad sort of tone. "I'm pregnant," she murmured glancing down at her still not really inflated womb. Stuttering, he shook as if not sure what to say or how to react to the news she had just given him, but only driven by the urge to get off this now dead planet.

Part (2): Lost and Found

"Are you.. are you sure?" he asked hesitantly, while tightening his grip on her protectively.

"Yeah." she replied with a sad, yet soft looking smile. Suddenly, blips began appearing on their radar; big and red as they talked with one another, "Shit," she swore and than pulled on his arm to drag him back behind a boulder where they crouched and waited for their enemies to come out into the clearing while wielding their weapons with deadly care. Than a voice spoke, "Noreen? Conner?". Peering out from the rock they hid behind, they saw the rest of their squad and surprisingly a Spartan tagging along with them but watching their back. "We have to get off the planet," one marine said running up and grabbing their arms while pulling them back as a burst of green plasma exploded right behind them, splashing on the boulder and melting it to molten lava. Glancing at it with shock, Noreen and Conner looked at one another and kissed as they finally had a chance at achieving what they really wanted to have in life. A family.

"Time to stop getting intimate marines, we have a Calypso extraction craft that New Gettysburg was kind enough to release near this location," the squad leader, Sergeant Toby Williams said in a get-to-business sort of way. Nodding, they picked their helmets up while looking lovingly at each other once more and stared out through the impenetrably black visor though squeezing each others hand in measurement. "After this is all over.." Conner started hesitantly as they trudged through the undergrowth, "Will you marry me?".

Looking up at him in surprise, "Not really the place to ask hubbybear," she murmured, leaning into his ear, "But yes," she murmured in a soft, loving tone.

"I call being the bridesma- oh wait what?" a random marine called out, overhearing their talk. Glancing behind, Conner snorted and replied, "And I thought you had balls Ignatieff,".

"Lost them at birth.. do you know where they are?" he replied cheekily until being shut down by the Sarge who was patrolling the ranks. Leaning in towards his second in command which also happened to be Corporal James Conner Needham he murmured, "We're about 17 clicks West of the location, though probes picked up a ghost signal.. we may find some baddies over there," the Sarge said with a sigh.

"I'll go ahead and clear the area," he offered, not willing to give risk to getting his honeybon and they unborn child into harm.

"Much appreciated," the Sarge replied and than walked off while talking to his A.I. Lapping Shadow.

Walking off to Noreen, he enveloped her in a huge hug and wrapped his arm around her while murmuring, "I'll be right back, kay? I need to scout ahead,".

Pulling her helmet off after a careful survey of the area, a strand of messy brown hair fell down from her usually neatly done bun. Her brown eyes met his and she sighed, "A kiss for good luck?" she asked with a pained smile on her face. Squeezing her hand, he pulled his own helmet off and embraced her lips with his own passionately, as they forgot about what was going on, and who was around them in their loving, and passionate embrace. "That's enough marines," the Sarge cut in, as he had been watching from afar, "We need to move.. the damn Covenant are glassing the planet,".

Glaring at the Sarge, Noreen opened her mouth and than closed it as her love gave her a warning look and than placed her helmet onto her head for her. "Bum.." she sighed and than picked up her sub machine gun and tucked it away in its place. Picking his helmet up for him, she did the same and than headbutted his now helmeted head affectionately, "Stay safe," she whispered hugging him though awkwardly but tightly through the armour.

Part (3): Scout

Trudging through the forest, Conner maintained stealth by keeping to the heavy undergrowth as his HUD showed up increasing traces of EMP radiation. The urge to fight, and survive renewed by hardened determination as he now fought for his love and unborn child. Smiling to himself, he imagined the future that they'd hold together, positive and sure of their survival. Spotting red blips on his radar, his fantasy was crushed and moved off to the side of his mind as his battle instincts took over. Hiding in a nearby shrub which was tall and dense enough to hold his bulky armour he crouched and held still as he watched a Covenant patrol stroll through the undergrowth. Five grunts held a rough delta-formation as a jackal held point. Its bird-like beak stained red with blood from some meal it had held earlier. Wincing at the thought of what that could have been he blinked the thought away and cleared his mind. Devising a plan he thought of throwing a flash bang into the middle of them, followed by a frag and then using his silenced sub machine gun, to finish off the rest before reinforcements could be contacted.

Tilting his flash bang he pinned it and threw it into the middle of the pack watching as they wandered around dizzy and surprised. Waiting for them to bunch up, he pinned a frag and threw it over into the middle of them. Watching bits of purple flesh rise into the air as a purple mist coated the once green undergrowth, Conner stepped out from his hiding place and cleared the squad. Moving on, he extracted some of the shield technology of which the jackals held and placed it in his pack while finishing off his analysis of the area.

Radioing in he called for the Sarge but only got static and what he thought could be screaming. Losing his grasp on the radio, he heard it drop in slow motion and then sprinted to the place of where he left his love.

Burnt corpses lay on the ground, curled up as if eaten by plasma as gunfire sounded in the distance. "Noreen," he breathed and then moved on until he saw her firing her captured needler rifle right through an elites eye. The Spartan seemed to be trying to shield her from the ongoing fire as Conner felt a twinge of protectiveness about it. Noticing a waver in the air behind her, he screamed a warning and sprinted towards it as it wielded its energy sword in slow motion. Skidding to a halt, he watched the elite uncloak and roar a muted challenge as Conner short his shotgun and cleared the elite's head clear off the base of his neck. Breathing heavily he saw her run towards him and push him down while her face was covered in mud, and her expression distorted. Muted by the rush of adrenaline he held, she seemed to scream as a beam of thick green plasma filled the place she was seconds before. Watching the Spartan go into armour lock and deflect the hunter's blast, she turned towards her love who was feeling his side for a red stain in his armour. "No.." her voice finally sounded in his ear as she started panicking, "No! Conner! No don't go, stay with me!" she cried out painfully as her hands started to shake uncontrollably as she tried to get her medpack out. Opening it, she saw the Spartan right behind her as she gave him a small nod. Watching him place a bubble shield around them she sighed and tried to relax while filling his wound with biofoam. Pulling his helmet off, she sighed as she saw him smiling at her, though unable to speak. Leaning down, she rested her chin on his chest and sighed while placing a small love-filled kiss on his lips. Breaking off, she called for the Spartan, "I'll cover you," she said as the Spartan nodded wordlessly and picked Conner up carefully and then sprinted through the forest as Noreen covered him with suppressing fire. Picking up his fallen rocket launcher, she saw there were two left. Aiming for the Covenants walking tanks, she fired both shots through their abdomen and watched with interest as the hunters exploded into dozens of eels and orange flesh. Turning around, she sprinted off towards the Calypso extraction craft.

Seeing the Spartan she ran towards them and then gaped as he pulled his helmet off to reveal a shaggy brown haired head which smiled at her before closing the hatch. Staring at it lift off she screamed a scream filled with frustration and rage as she saw that her love was taken with the Spartan. Seeing a tactical pad on a rock, she picked it up and read:

_No hard feelings but there's only room for two on this thing,_

_ I'll take care of Corporal Needham for you, so you need not be worried._

Blinking her hazel eyes, she swore and through the tactical pad off to the side. Hearing a voice, she turned around to see an elite. Throwing her weapon down to the ground, she raised her middle finger at it and told it to go fuck himself. Collapsing on the ground from both fatigue and also the fact that a tranquilizer dart had been shot into the back of her neck, she fell down into a uneasy rest which seemed to weigh her down completely.

Part (4): Surprise

Watching the female human scream unintelligible words at him, the elite sighed heavily and signalled for his brother to shoot her with a specialized tranquil dart that ought to send her right to sleep in seconds. If his analysis was correct, this human was the experiment of which a human female had been impregnated with Sangheili sperm. This female, was indeed the offspring and she too appeared pregnant herself. Pulling the armour off her now limp body he stared at her battle-worn scars and sighed. This very same child, he had helped to deliver was now a cold-blood killer. Wondering what her father would say, he shook his head and sighed. They should never have left her at the human compound to begin with, to be raised by humans was to learn to hate the Sangheili brethren. Feeling around the base of her back, he felt a certain hardness in her, and pulled off her skin-tight black suit off her body to reveal a scaly bit of her here and there. Her scales were not the classic Sangheili grey but rather a attractive light pinkish colour. Feeling around it, he saw that her legs were also a lot more sturdier than the standard human which suggested more stamina and endurance.


End file.
